Novel my ass. As to the format - nnnnnnmaybe: Yeah, it's a high-density floppy that requires a Mac with two megs or more. And sure, the interface does have its original moments. Yet the visual slickness proves only to be light glinting off the steaming turd of a story this disk delivers. Ambulance is your standard Teen-Pomo-Gloom Plot "C." John, the story's protagonist (I think) is a junkie detoxing for the um-pteenth time in an insane asylum. His buds come to rescue him, wreck the car on a deserted road, are found by a serial killer, and, well, you do the math. Yet amidst the relentless stream of barf, blood, limbs, split-skulls and rape, the characters maintain their depth: "The night was shot to hell. [Bill - another protagonist] waited quietly for it to end." Yeah. Deep as a burrowing tick.
The "music" that accompanies the action alone could put you into an asylum. Crank some Megadeth instead. It'll help.
There are some striking images buried with the maggots, but pictures do not a novel make. Too bad Monica Moran didn't include a phone number so her readers could call a real ambulance to rescue them from this 235-page nightmare. Now there's a novel idea.
Ambulance: An Electronic Novel, by Monica Moran. US$17. Electronic Hollywood Books: +1 (213) 850 8525.
STREET CRED
Smut By Any Other Name, and Proud Of ItEinstein on the Beach Meets Eurydice
William Burroughs and The Net: Past, Present,
Ambulance, "An Electronic Novel"
